Atlanta (Special to NFLNewsbyZennie62.com) – 2025 marks the 20th straight year that Zennie62Media, Inc. CEO Zennie Abraham has been credentialed to cover the National Football League’s Player Selection Meeting, aka The NFL Draft. It’s a privilege that started at the behest of NFL Government Affairs Executive and Friend Joe Brown in 2000, leading to a follow-up call from Zennie to Joe in 2004, and then Zennie’s first NFL Draft as press, the 2005 NFL Draft. The one that saw Zennie’s favorite draftee Cal Quarterback Aaron Rogers fall to 25 and get picked by the Green Bay Packers.
That led to Zennie’s second NFL Draft in 2006, which saw the use of his then-new YouTube Channel now called The Vlog Report With Zennie62. Zennie became the first person to cover the NFL Draft on site with a YouTube Channel. You can test that fact today just by going to YouTube and typing “April 2006 NFL” and then look for any video that’s from the actual presentation of the NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. There’s a set of five videos, and all from Zennie62 YouTube, and they’re all here:
2007 And Zennie Abraham Makes The YouTube And UStream Partnership For The 2007 NFL Draft
Eager to advance on his use of YouTube, Zennie discovered the then-new-livestream technology by the startup company USTREAM out of San Francisco. The 2007 NFL Draft was marked by this video: a talk with book author and friend Wil Mara that was on YouTube, USTREAM, and Blog Talk Radio, all at the same time:
We did the same thing with our friend the late Paul Satala, creator of “Mr. Irrelevant”:
As you can tell the camera tech really improved in just one year, resulting in sharper and more detailed video images, leading to better experiences:
2008 NFL Draft Featured First Radio City Music Hall Grand Lounge Interviews And Walking Vlogs
In 2008, camera tech was even better, leading to this vlog;
ESPN complained about my use of a YouTube Channel the main floor of the NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall and so the NFL put me down in the Grand Lounge of the place. Yes, downstairs. But that was the player interview room, and since there were no other cameras with a YouTube Channel, I got the first interviews of all of the draftees! That was where our giant list of NFL Draft Player interviews came from. And here’s a vlog from our walk over to check out the then-annual-ritual of the draftees emerging from a two-story-high door and roof at Radio City Music Hall for press photos.
There will be more videos representing the Zennie62 at the NFL Draft years leading to 2025. Stay tuned.